Free heart surgery for 25 kids at Andhra Hospitals from today

Vijayawada: A team of 10 members, including doctors and nurses from UK would perform pediatric cardiac surgeries for 25 children affected with cardiac issues at Heart and Brain Institute of the Andhra Group of Hospitals, according to Dr PV Rama Rao, Chief of Child Services, Andhra Hospitals.

Talking to reporters here on Sunday, Rama Rao said that Andhra Hospitals and UK’s Healing Little Hearts were going to perform surgeries for children between Monday and March 4. “In the first phase, the doctors from UK successfully operated on 17 children in December, 2015 supported by Actress Samantha’s Pratyusha Support. A majority of the children after surgery were leading a normal life following course of medicines and intensive treatment given by the hospital. Now, in the second phase, the team of UK doctors will operate 25 children affected with cardiac issues to provide a new lease of life to them,” he said.

Liverpool-based cardiac surgeon VD Ramana Rao said that every year thousands of children born with heart diseases die, not because their conditions were terminal but because of poor awareness. Explaining about the congenital heart disease, he said that it was a condition in which a baby takes birth with a simple hole in its heart, a simple narrowing of one of the heart valves or a complex heart problem with multiple defects that results in a blue baby. Diagnosis could be done even before a baby is born, through foetal echocardiography, chest X-ray, electro cardiogram (ECG) and angiogram. These techniques would be helpful in cases where the child with a congenital heart condition was certain to die if not operated upon on the first day of its birth, he said.

Dr Vikram Kudumula of AP, Dr Rajesh, Dr Ravi Kumar, president, Indian Academy of Pediatrics and secretary Dr Sai Prasad were present at the news conference.